Carlton Supporters Club

People will make analogies to Weitering, but there is a big difference between swinging a tenth year player around and a kid in his 2nd year.

Taylor knows the game, can switch back to his default defence at the flick of a switch like he never missed a beat.

Despite just how good Jacob Weitering is, he is just a kid learning the ropes. Let Weitering learn the ropes, and in two or three years he'll be another Harry Taylor, Jarryd Roughead or maybe even a Stephen Silvagni.

Cats are getting desparate... Harry T is a doofus when he plays forward, works ok as a short term shock tactic but he gets lost and vanishes when playing full games up front.  Shows the over-reliance on the lug at FF and the lack of reliable forward options.

I thought Touhy was shown up really badly as well.

I agree Prof,,, HT is fairly uninspiring when played forward and looks lost, Cats are desperate to get the heat off Hawkins and got desperate by moving HT IMO....hence why they recruited Henderson to play down back and cover for HT. They should have recruited a young CHF instead of trying to cheat with Taylor.
I think Weitering looks the part and being younger can learn to play down forward, its worth trying IMO.

I agree but in short bursts only.

Very risky playing this 'kid' week in week out as a key forward when we are so deficient and desperate for someone to stand up at that end of the ground. I can see it already he will be under the spotlight with majority of   supporters will soon forget his age and stage being critical of him if he doesn't have an impact. In our side he could get the best defender some weeks and/or at best, the second best opposition defender - tough gig for youngstar. 

Is this the best thing for him longterm or just what we need so we will push him to fill a important gap at any cost.

Yet playing back (the positon he was recruited to play) he usually gets the 3rd best defender, can intercept mark and not be in everyone's sights as the man we need to make an impact. He just develops slowly as he should. Its only his 2nd year and seems to me that we are throwing him to the wolves in an attempt to get a tough position covered.

Is this what the better teams would do? I think not.

Cripps and him are our best hopes - Cripps already is getting banged up - lets not do the same to Weitering.
 

Does anybody know where Charlie C is at?

The Weitering situation is an interesting one.

It's a bit of a catch 22

Play him forward and bolster the forward line and I suspect he'd soon be drawing a fair bit of attention.
But if you don't play him back and the forward line remains a dysfunctional mess the ball will come bouncing back into the backline and he'll be under immense pressure down there.

Poor kid's going to cop the attention wherever he plays.

I agree but in short bursts only.

Very risky playing this 'kid' week in week out as a key forward when we are so deficient and desperate for someone to stand up at that end of the ground. I can see it already he will be under the spotlight with majority of   supporters will soon forget his age and stage being critical of him if he doesn't have an impact. In our side he could get the best defender some weeks and/or at best, the second best opposition defender - tough gig for youngstar. 

Is this the best thing for him longterm or just what we need so we will push him to fill a important gap at any cost.

Yet playing back (the positon he was recruited to play) he usually gets the 3rd best defender, can intercept mark and not be in everyone's sights as the man we need to make an impact. He just develops slowly as he should. Its only his 2nd year and seems to me that we are throwing him to the wolves in an attempt to get a tough position covered.

Is this what the better teams would do? I think not.

Cripps and him are our best hopes - Cripps already is getting banged up - lets not do the same to Weitering.
 

From what I've read (from memory), he played quite  a lot of junior footy as a forward?

Others care to comment?

Bolton made sure that Weitering played on the competition's best forwards in his first season and he looked comfortable matched up with Franklin, the Riewoldts, Kennedy etc.  He has also looked comfortable leading into space as a forward.

I think that Weitering's development may progress more smoothly if he is able to focus largely on playing one position.  However, it's irrelevant whether that position is as a defender or a forward.  If he is to be used as a forward from time to time, I would prefer to see him starting there rather than being switched during the game.

One of the reasons Weitering was recruited is because he can play forward and back.